Oxshott Heath and Woods is an area of woods and heathland in

Oxshott Oxshott is a suburban village in the borough of Elmbridge in Surrey, England. Oxshott includes hilly acidic heath which is partly wooded (see Esher Commons and Prince's Coverts) and occupies the land between the large towns of Esher and Leatherhead ...

Surrey Surrey () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South East England, bordering Greater London to the south west. Surrey has a large rural area, and several significant urban areas which form part of the Greater London Built-up Area. ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

covering approximately , as an area of

common land Common land is land owned by a person or collectively by a number of persons, over which other persons have certain common rights, such as to allow their livestock to graze upon it, to collect Wood fuel, wood, or to cut turf for fuel. A person ...

. It is owned by a local authority, however historic rights of access and gathering dead wood where necessary for individual fires are shared and exercised by landowners in the

parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest, often termed a parish priest, who might be assisted by one or m ...

of Oxshott which has existed since the end of the 19th century, created from the east of the

village A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town (although the word is often used to describe both hamlets and smaller towns), with a population typically ranging from a few hundred to ...

of Stoke D'Abernon which in this area was extremely scantly populated until the construction of

Oxshott railway station Oxshott railway station serves the village of Oxshott, in Surrey, England. It is down the line from . The station, and all trains serving it, are operated by South Western Railway (train operating company), South Western Railway. The station is ...

Description

This area of Oxshott Heath
Fedora (Oxshott Community Residents' Group). Retrieved 2014-01-22 has a geology simply shaping its topography where the

London Clay The London Clay Formation is a marine geological formation of Ypresian (early Eocene Epoch, c. 56–49 million years ago) age which crops out in the southeast of England. The London Clay is well known for its fossil content. The fossils from t ...

stratum meets an overlying sand/sandstone stratum and the latter emerges to the surface. The area is centred on a tall outcrop of 'left behind' (uneroded) sand escarpment, from which views to Box Hill (near

Dorking Dorking () is a market town in Surrey in South East England, about south of London. It is in Mole Valley District and the council headquarters are to the east of the centre. The High Street runs roughly east–west, parallel to the Pipp Br ...

) can be made out to the south. Its lightly raised summit has a war memorial. The area is part of

Esher Commons Esher Commons is a biological Site of Special Scientific Interest south-west of Esher in Surrey. It includes Esher Common, Fairmile Common, West End Common and Oxshott Heath. Esher Common and West End Common are Local Nature Reserves. Geology ...

in council definitions and terms of habitat and is designated a

Site of Special Scientific Interest A Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) in Great Britain or an Area of Special Scientific Interest (ASSI) in the Isle of Man and Northern Ireland is a conservation designation denoting a protected area in the United Kingdom and Isle of ...

. The woodland contains varied patches of deciduous and coniferous trees depending on soil type: *mature and young

oak An oak is a tree or shrub in the genus ''Quercus'' (; Latin "oak tree") of the beech family, Fagaceae. There are approximately 500 extant species of oaks. The common name "oak" also appears in the names of species in related genera, notably ''L ...

beech Beech (''Fagus'') is a genus of deciduous trees in the family Fagaceae, native to temperate Europe, Asia, and North America. Recent classifications recognize 10 to 13 species in two distinct subgenera, ''Engleriana'' and ''Fagus''. The ''Engle ...

birch A birch is a thin-leaved deciduous hardwood tree of the genus ''Betula'' (), in the family Betulaceae, which also includes alders, hazels, and hornbeams. It is closely related to the beech-oak family Fagaceae. The genus ''Betula'' contains 30 ...

silver birch ''Betula pendula'', commonly known as silver birch, warty birch, European white birch, or East Asian white birch, is a species of tree in the family Betulaceae, native to Europe and parts of Asia, though in southern Europe, it is only found ...

(on relatively dry

heath A heath () is a shrubland habitat found mainly on free-draining infertile, acidic soils and characterised by open, low-growing woody vegetation. Moorland is generally related to high-ground heaths with—especially in Great Britain—a cooler ...

) *

Scots Pine ''Pinus sylvestris'', the Scots pine (UK), Scotch pine (US) or Baltic pine, is a species of tree in the pine family Pinaceae that is native to Eurasia. It can readily be identified by its combination of fairly short, blue-green leaves and orang ...

(on relatively dry heath) It is bordered to the south by the New Guildford Line (the local railway), to the east by the north-south A244 running between

Esher Esher ( ) is a town in Surrey, England, to the east of the River Mole. Esher is an outlying suburb of London near the London-Surrey Border, and with Esher Commons at its southern end, the town marks one limit of the Greater London Built-Up Ar ...

and

Leatherhead Leatherhead is a town in the Mole Valley District of Surrey, England, about south of Central London. The settlement grew up beside a ford on the River Mole, from which its name is thought to derive. During the late Anglo-Saxon period, Leath ...

, to the north by the (

Portsmouth Road The A3, known as the Portsmouth Road or London Road in sections, is a major road connecting the City of London and Portsmouth passing close to Kingston upon Thames, Guildford, Haslemere and Petersfield. For much of its length, it is classifi ...

) as aligned since the late 20th century followed by a wooded area that continues north towards

as Esher Commons, and the west by a large cluster of residential development of Oxshott itself. Oxshott Woods provide a healthy recreational area for visitors, set on a sloping escarpment with almost flat and more challenging walks. Unlike the neighbouring

proper, Oxshott Heath is managed by a board of conservators originally established by a provisional order made under the Commons Act 1876, and confirmed by a 1904 Order. and the award made under the order. A

status applies as to access and rights to domestic (own use) firewood for particular households and subject not to misuse and it is owned by the local authority. In 1935 a circular

Anglo-Saxon The Anglo-Saxons were a Cultural identity, cultural group who inhabited England in the Early Middle Ages. They traced their origins to settlers who came to Britain from mainland Europe in the 5th century. However, the ethnogenesis of the Anglo- ...

bronze brooch of the early tenth century was found, deposited in the

British Museum The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It docum ...

where it is an exhibited collection piece. It is believed to be manufactured in England and has very fine detailing of snakes carved into it. In 2007 prospective major tree felling was scaled back."Protesters outraged at tree felling"
7 August 2007 ''Esher News and Mail Series'',

Surrey Advertiser The ''Surrey Advertiser'' is a newspaper for Surrey, England which was established in 1864 and gradually evolved into the Surrey Advertiser Group of seven more localised titles. Guardian Media Group sold the Group to Trinity Mirror in 2010. The o ...

Group. Retrieved 2014-01-22

References

External links

Oxshott Heath Conservators
{{coord, 51.3388, -0.3660, type:forest_region:GB-SRY, display=title Forests and woodlands of Surrey Borough of Elmbridge Parks and open spaces in Surrey